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Dismasting puzzles designers

Groupama was sailing in 20 knots of wind when the mast snapped

FECAMP, France -- Franck Cammas' Groupama has broke her mast during practice for the Fecamp Grand Prix, posing difficult questions to the designers.

The ORMA 60 trimaran's mast snapped on Thursday in Fecamp some 10 metres (33ft) from the top, injuring two crew members who were taken to hospital.

Over recent years the rotating, carbon wing masts have proved very reliable on the offshore racing multihulls with frequent ocean crossings and around-the-world records.

But Groupama's is the sixth dismasting in the ORMA 60 trimaran class this season and skippers are searching frantically for an answer to the problem.

The mast was built by French builder Espaces Composites, as were those on Alain Gautier's Foncia 2, Jean-Luc Nelias' Belgacom and Bertrand de Broc's Banque Covefi -- which all broke earlier this year.

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The spate of failures has posed the French mast designers, builders and boat designers some complicated questions.

Some of the breakages have been attributed to flaws in the high modulus carbon fibre used in construction, but not all are built of the same material or by the same builder so they are not necessarily related.

Groupama designer Vincent Lauriot Prévost said: "We honestly don't know if it is because of the build process or the concept or the handling of the mast.

"It's quite difficult to analyse and it is a conjunction of several problems which we can't confirm at this stage."

Other ORMA 60 mast failures have been on Michel Desjoyeaux's new Géant and Marc Guillemot's Biscuits la Trinitaine.

This is a serious setback for Cammas who is one of the favourites for the year's high profile solo offshore race, the Route du Rhum from St Malo to Guadeloupe, which starts on November 10.

Cammas has won the ORMA Grand Prix circuit for the last two years and is currently in second position overall behind Loick Peyron's Fujifilm for the 2002 circuit. In 2001 he won the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre.

He should be back in action in time for the start of the Route du Rhum as the boat and skipper have already qualified, but the 2000 Vendee Globe winning skipper Desjoyeaux's first major race in his new boat is in jeopardy because he cannot find a replacement build in time to qualify for the race.

Racing at the Fecamp Grand Prix continues until September 15.